New York faces fatbergs crisis as officials tell residents to stop throwing 'flushable wipes' down the toilet after 53,000 tons of refuse was found clogging the city's sewers in 2018
- New York City is having a crisis with fatbergs: masses of cooking fat and wipes that clog sewage lines
- The city Department of Environmental Protection spent $19 million last year removing fatbergs
- Problem has doubled in the past decade as New Yorkers won't stop flushing things they're not supposed to
- Last year, the DEP responded to 2,100 fatbergs in the city's sewer system
- New awareness campaign says people should only flush the four 'Ps': poop, puke, pee and toilet paper
- Flushable wipes makes up 90% of the solids in a fatberg with 53,000 tonnes caught in 2018
It's the dirtiest job in New York!
Everything from dead rats, car tires and even headless pigs ends up in Brooklyn's sewage treatment works all as part of a fatberg - enormous globs of fat, mostly made up from cooking grease and wipes that clogs up the pipes.
'It's a dirty job. It took me a while to get used to the smell,' Kam Lau told The New York Post at Brooklyn's Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.
'I put my gloves on and just do the job. Someone has to do it.'
![A sewage treatment worker collect wipes pulled from the water at the Newton Creek Wastewater Resource Recovery Center in the Greenpoint neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/23/02/12593444-6948895-image-a-16_1555982983359.jpg)
A sewage treatment worker collect wipes pulled from the water at the Newton Creek Wastewater Resource Recovery Center in the Greenpoint neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York
![Undissolved wipes are pulled from the water by a screen and scrape machine. New York City estimates that out of more than 53,000 tons of refuse collected in 2017 from its 14 treatment plants, 95 percent was wipes](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/23/02/12593452-6948895-image-a-15_1555982971184.jpg)
Undissolved wipes are pulled from the water by a screen and scrape machine. New York City estimates that out of more than 53,000 tons of refuse collected in 2017 from its 14 treatment plants, 95 percent was wipes
![The number of wipes has almost doubled since 2007, as has the price of disposing it in landfills to at least $19 million a year](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/23/02/12593440-6948895-image-a-18_1555982990037.jpg)
The number of wipes has almost doubled since 2007, as has the price of disposing it in landfills to at least $19 million a year
![A fatberg is removed from the sewer at 106-55 150th Street near 107th Avenue in South Jamaica, Queens](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/23/06/12600090-6948895-image-a-73_1555998834872.jpg)
A fatberg is removed from the sewer at 106-55 150th Street near 107th Avenue in South Jamaica, Queens
Fatbergs are a real problem and a growing one too. The city Department of Environmental Protection spent $19 million last year removing fatbergs. Ten years ago, the cost was half that amount.
The problem occurs because New Yorkers still keep on flushing items that they are not supposed to, down the toilet.
Everything from sanitary towels, used condoms, baby wipes and even dead rats all find their way from the toilets into Newtown Creek's million-dollar machinery and pumps.
In 2018 there were 2,100 fatbergs clogging up the city's sewer system.
![Wipes pulled from the water system sit in a bin at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility in Brooklyn](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/23/03/12593438-6948895-Wipes_pulled_from_the_water_system_sit_in_a_bin_at_the_Newtown_C-m-45_1555987682651.jpg)
Wipes pulled from the water system sit in a bin at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility in Brooklyn
![In February, New York City launched a $2 million campaign, complete with subway ads, telling residents to “respect the flush” and trash even wipes labelled flushable](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/23/03/12595158-6948895-image-m-40_1555986614248.jpg)
In February, New York City launched a $2 million campaign, complete with subway ads, telling residents to “respect the flush” and trash even wipes labelled flushable
![The rise in reports of fatbergs and other blockages mirrors the growth in flushable wipes. From 2013 to 2018, the moist toilet wipes market grew 36 percent globally, worth around $1.1 billion today. About half of the market is in the U.S.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/23/03/12595160-6948895-image-a-42_1555986632619.jpg)
The rise in reports of fatbergs and other blockages mirrors the growth in flushable wipes. From 2013 to 2018, the moist toilet wipes market grew 36 percent globally, worth around $1.1 billion today. About half of the market is in the U.S.
A new awareness campaign tells New Yorkers to only flush the four 'Ps': poop, puke, pee and toilet paper.
The DEP says flushable wipes are the main cause of fatbergs with 90% of them getting caught up in their giant sorting screens at 14 treatment plants around the city.
Wet wipes were traditionally used for babies but they are now just as popular with adults as well. The U.S. makes up half of the global $1.1 billion wipe market, according to Bloomberg.
Last year, the DEP sent more than 53,000 tons of the flushable towels and other debris to landfills.
![People have been using toilet paper since the 1850s but have turned to wet wipes over the past decade](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/23/02/12593434-6948895-image-a-22_1555983001858.jpg)
People have been using toilet paper since the 1850s but have turned to wet wipes over the past decade
![The wipes often don’t dissolve and form sewage blockages, the largest of which have earned a nasty moniker of fatbergs](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/23/02/12593450-6948895-image-a-29_1555983023752.jpg)
The wipes often don't dissolve and form sewage blockages, the largest of which have earned a nasty moniker of fatbergs
'These wipes are the bane of my existence,' the city's wastewater boss, Pam Elardo, told The Post. 'People want their bums to be fresh. Fine. But put it in the trash.'
Fed-up city officials commissioned a study in September that found none of the major six 'flushable' wipes disintegrated as claimed, and now the DEP wants them completely banned.
Fatbergs appear to be a common problem all over the world. In the UK, a 209-foot-long fatberg took workers eight weeks to remove.
'There are so many more things we could spend the $19 million on, like odor control or fixing aging equipment we need to replace. This, to me, is a big waste,' Elardo said.
'We're doing all we can, but we need help. Given all the right information, I believe New Yorkers will do the right thing.'
![In February, New York City launched a $2 million campaign, complete with subway ads, telling residents to “respect the flush” and trash even wipes labelled flushable](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/23/02/12593436-6948895-image-a-25_1555983004616.jpg)
In February, New York City launched a $2 million campaign, complete with subway ads, telling residents to 'respect the flush' and trash even wipes labelled flushable
![The Newtown Creek Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility stands in an aerial photograph](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/04/23/02/12593432-6948895-image-a-27_1555983011602.jpg)
The Newtown Creek Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility stands in an aerial photograph
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Why do they advertise them as "flushable" when the...
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